A Religious Opinion
You are a teacher at the High School level. Several of your student express their anger at another teacher expressing her religious beliefs to her class. More than one student has stated that a teacher in a previous class that day told an openly gay student that he was going to Hell because of his sexual orientation. What should be done?

The teacher should be immediately reprimanded by the administration and should receive a letter of direction if not worse. It is unacceptable and unethical to judge a student based on their race, religion, or sexual preference. The teacher should have consequences for their actions against the student.

I think that the teacher needs to do a better job a keeping their personal beliefs separate from teaching. Their job is to educate students and if their personal beliefs get in the way of that then they are honestly in the wrong profession!

The teacher is entitled to his/her personal religious opinion. However, we as educators must present ourselves unbiased at school (code of ethics, I believe). Therefore as a violation of policy must be reported to administration.

Question: What would the response be if the teacher said "He is going to Heaven because of his sexual orientation."? If the argument is about whether or not the teacher is judgmental, judgments are passed all the day long-- both "positive" and "negative" by all people.

I'd encourage all educators to (within reason) to keep your religious beliefs/morals to yourself while working at a "public or secular" school. This way you can avoid conflict. If you find this unfair or uncomfortable, consider finding a place of work where you might express your beliefs more freely. For example, a private school.

Also, it may be wise for the teacher to join a teacher's union in case something is blown out of proportion and you need legal counsel or advice.

We are all entitled to our personal beliefs. However, we cannot judge students based on their personal beliefs or for any other characteristic besides their work ethic and the work they turn into us. This teacher needs to be reported. If the students are scared to report it to an administrator, you really have not choice but to do it for them.

In a situation like this if I had a relationship with the other teacher I would go to them and voice my concern to them. If I was not close with them and there was another teacher that was, I would have go with me to talk to this teacher. If at that point it continued I would tell the students if they came to me again that this was something they needed to bring up with a counselor or administration.

This is a violation of the code of ethics and should be immediately reported to administration. While the teacher is entitled to have their own set of religious beliefs, it is inappropriate to share these beliefs in the school setting and incredibly inappropriate to tell a student that they are going to hell.